Archive for History

I expect to get an immediate reaction from you! From 1950. “Tips to Look after your husband“.

I knew that you would have an emotional reaction! Remember, this is what some were thinking in 1950. I don’t expect that these wives really felt like they were “living”.

It’s all about advice. I say that because I keep getting emails that give me all kinds of advice on shopping, “lawyering” and financial ideas. Plus, there are emails trying to get me all riled up politically. And I haven’t even mentioned Facebook posts.

I guess it all comes down to knowing who you should listen to. Like maybe Lincoln should have gotten this advice from an elementary school kid:

Now that would have been good advice!

Or maybe even good cooking advice!

This is on my mind, because it is about this time of year, that we decide on what seminars lawyers from the firm should attend for the year. There are all kinds of ways “to do it better”. I just think that you have to stop and really think whether these “experts” have the right way of doing things.

Think about it. In life, who should we listen to? Don’t you think that sometimes common sense just rules the day. You know what is the right. It’s that inner voice. That’s the advice that we should listen and apply! And just as the ending of Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” ends with…and that has made all the difference!

And for pic o’ day, this picture just strikes a familiar chord with me:

I feel like I need to at least mention the Super Bowl. For some reason, it always seems to give me an excuse to eat things that I normally would not eat.

All across America, people refused to step on the scale this morning.

I saw that a listing of searches on google during the Super Bowl included a lot of “Who is Justin Timberlake?” Or maybe that was just the “Selfie Kid”! That made me laugh.

That game was truly crazy exciting. The streets of Philadelphia were filled with celebration! Now to our blog topic.

This is about the trial of Brian De La Beckwith. It’s important because on this day in 1994, he was convicted of killing Medgar Wiley Evers. (History.com) The story that includes the two prior trials will make you shake your head at justice then, in Mississippi.

Medgar Evers (Wikipedia) was a civil rights activist in Mississippi and became that state’s field secretary for the NAACP. (the first NAACP field secretary in the south) He was a World War II veteran who had participated in the Normandy invasion.

After the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the opinion of Brown v. Board of Education that held that segregated public schools were unconstitutional, Evers challenged the segregation of the University of Mississippi by applying to their law school. Despite the Supreme Court decision, he was still denied admission because of his race.

Following the Brown v. Board of Education decision and in response to the opinion, local whites founded the White Citizens’ Council in Mississippi. It was their goal to resist the integration of schools and facilities.

In 1962, Evers helped James Meredith become the first African American to attend the University of Mississippi. Evers was becoming more known for his efforts to combat segregation, and he received numerous threats, with several attempts being made on his life.

By the summer of 1963, he had spent nearly nine years organizing voter registration drives and leading boycotts of segregated Mississippi businesses. On June 11, President John F. Kennedy had delivered an address from the oval office, calling for Congress to take action in the area of civil rights. Following that speech, Evers was at an organizational meeting at a local church. He returned home sometime after midnight, less than four hours after the Kennedy speech.

Evers was gunned down in the driveway of his Mississippi home on June 12, 1963, while his wife and the couple’s three small children were inside the house. He had emerged from his car, carrying NAACP t-shirts that read “Jim Crow Must Go”

Evers was struck in the back. The bullet ripped through his heart. Initially thrown to the ground by the impact of the shot, Evers rose and staggered 30 feet before collapsing. His wife found him outside their front door.

He was taken to the local hospital in Jackson, Mississippi, where he was initially refused entry, because of his race. His family explained who he was and he was admitted; he died in the hospital 50 minutes later. Evers was the first African American to be admitted to an all-white hospital in Mississippi. Over 5000 mourners attended his funeral.

Just two weeks after the assassination, Byron De La Beckwith, a member of the local White Citizen’s Council, was arrested for Evers’ murder. Beckwith, a fertilizer salesman and Ku Klux Klan member, was prosecuted for murder in 1964. However, two all-white (and all-male) juries deadlocked and refused to convict him. That second trial held in the same year resulted in a hung jury. The follow-up prosecution was not pursued, after it appeared that a conviction would be impossible.

De La Beckwith had reportedly repeatedly bragged about being responsible for the murder, and even unsuccessfully ran for lieutenant governor of Mississippi.

Beckwith remained free until the 1990s. Then, because of new evidence gathered by Medgar Evers wife (Myrlie Evers-Williams) and others, the case was reopened. Some of the new evidence submitted for retrial included that the juries in the original two trials had been improperly screened. At the time, most blacks were kept from registering to vote by Mississippi’s constitution. This meant that they were also excluded from juries because jurors were drawn from the pool of registered voters.

On February 5, 1994, De La Beckwith was finally convicted, this time by a racially mixed jury. At the third trial, the prosecution produced a rifle-scope from the murder weapon that had Beckwith’s fingerprints. New witnesses also testified that Beckwith had bragged about committing the murder. He was sentenced to life in prison.

Beckwith died in prison in 2001, at the age of 90. The decades-long effort to bring De La Beckwith to justice was dramatized in the 1996 film “Ghosts of Mississippi“.

At the Arlington National Cemetery tribute to Evers on the 50th Anniversary of his death, his widow read the following:

“Medgar was a man who never wanted adoration, who never wanted to be in the limelight. He was a man who saw a job that needed to be done and he answered the call and the fight for freedom, dignity and justice not just for his people but all people.”

Now after that history, let’s change it up. For pic o’ day, how about this strategy?

Here we are. Friday and we are in February. Yes! Because it seemed like January was 74 days long. Is that possible?

Sometimes you just need to rise above!

Just a preliminary. In case you did not receive a copy of our January newsletter… here it is (HERE) and also a way to subscribe.

So just a couple of things because I don’t want to take you on a major blog expedition. Just some thoughts.

This falls under the category of arms control. But not such a good ending. Around the middle of the 16th century, Hideyoshi, known as the peasant ruler of Japan, ordered that all the swords in the nation be collected… and melted down. The metal was then used to construct an enormous Buddha. Does that sound like a good idea?

It took 50,000 skilled workers more than six years to build the statue. Ten years later… an earthquake brought it down. No good! I guess that’s truly living in the present because there was no future for that statue.

How about this game? “Hot Cockles” was a popular game at Christmas in medieval times. No… not Hot Pockets (which is perfect if you just feel like burning the roof of your mouth)

Here’s Hot Cockles, in case you want to play it with friends and family this weekend. Players took turns striking the designated blindfolded player. The blindfolded player had to guess the name of the person who was hitting them delivering each blow. Just a friendly game… among friends who want to be enemies? How about some friendly “slappage”.

And finally, here’s some useful information. Did you know that the Donald Duck comics were banned from Finland… because he doesn’t wear trousers. Not even pants on the ground.

I hope you have a great weekend. These are the good days!!! And I hope your weekend includes some sit-down time! (I know what you are thinking. Apparently pictures that require magnifying glasses are really relaxing)

If you skim through the news, you realize that it is just random and usually not good news. Sometimes the stories are just good stories. Sometimes you just see things and say “that’s right” because it is.

For this blog, I just thought that I would randomly throw some news at you. After last night’s State of the Union address… are you ready?

Speaking of State of the Union, were you humored with the misspellings of the invitations? (NY Times) “State of the Uniom.” That is classic! I remember when the Washington Nationals made a mistake on their shirts that said Washington Natinals. I still call them the Natinals!

It just makes me laugh.

Here’s some news from the department of irony. From PilotOnline comes a story of a doughnut robber, who had previously won a police donut-eating contest. If he had only stolen the donuts!

And finally, I find this story to be a head-shaker. The Professor and the Madman! Have you ever thought about how the Oxford Dictionary was written? Probably not. But here is some background that might make you look at it differently.

Professor James Murray was the credited editor of the Oxford English Dictionary Dr. William Chester Minor, an American surgeon who had served in the Civil War, was considered one of the most prolific contributors to the dictionary.

He sent thousands of unsolicited hand-written quotations from his home. But, they could not get him to come to the location where the Dictionary was being put together.

Finally, Professor Murray decided to meet him. It was then that Murray would finally learn the truth about Minor. Not only was Minor an amazing wordsmith… he was also an insane murderer who was locked up in Broadmoor.

At that time, Broadmoor was considered as England’s harshest asylum for criminals and dangerous lunatics. As it was later described… The Professor and the Madman is the unforgettable story of criminal madness and genius that contributed to one of the greatest literary achievements. The Oxford English Dictionary. And as Paul Harvey would say… Now you know the rest of the story!

I am starting with a look back at the snow because I am hopeful that is all behind us. Right?

Today’s blog is on the affects of adversity. People respond differently. Much like the viewpoint/attitude referenced in an exchange between the characters “Mike” and “Toby” on the show that used to be on NBC, “The Office“:

“Why are you the way that you are? Honestly, every time I try to do something fun or exciting, you make it…not…that way. I….HATE…. so much about the things that you choose to be.” –Michael Scott

There are some people who are just ambivalent about life, or they just aren’t fun at all. No positivity! In my practice, I have seen clients in the most adverse circumstances, rise to levels of accomplishment and achievement when they had every excuse to feel differently. They refuse to allow adversity to get them down.

It reminds me of a quote from the 1949 British film, The Third Man. Harry Lime, who was played by the great actor Orson Welles, says:

“Don’t be so gloomy. After all, it’s not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias, ‘they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love – they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? – The cuckoo clock!’”

I like this quote on adversity from Japanese writer Haruk Murakamii, “And once the storm is over, you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.”

Much like the famous quote from German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, “That which does not kill us makes us stronger“.

The Cavalier Hotel in Virginia Beach is about to reopen. (Pilot Online) February is the target date. If you lived in Virginia Beach for any period of time, you probably have a story to tell about the Cavalier.

But there is real attention-grabbing history there, that includes the suicide of Aldolph Coors. It falls under the category of “I bet you didn’t know that!”. Here is how the Virginian Pilot summarized it in 2006:

Aldoph Coors, the founder of the Coors Brewing Company was born Adolph Kurs in Germany in 1847. He trained as a brewer and immigrated to the US in 1868, reportedly as a stowaway. Kuhrs settled in Chicago, and worked a variety of low paying jobs before changing his name to the more easily pronounced Coors and buying a brewery. Coors was a successful businessman who skirted Prohibition by selling near beer and malted milk, but he was not a happy camper. On June 5, 1929 Adolph Coors leaped to his death from a window of the Cavalier Hotel in Virginia Beach for unknown reasons. Dan Baum, a writer for the Wall Street Journal who wrote a book about the Coors family called, “Citizen Coors: An American dynasty, says that the suicide was not surprising, seems the whole Coors Family is a little wacky. After Adolph’s death his son, Adolph, Jr was given the reins for awhile. Next in line was Adolph III, who was unfortunately murdered in a bizarre kidnapping event in 1960. Adolph III left his home and headed to his office one morning only to encounter a car on the side of the road. Apparently being the inquisitive type he stopped to help. Unfortunately, in the car was Joseph Corbett, an escaped convict from California. Corbett shot him. The rest of the craziness? You probably know most. There was the born again Coor’s heir who thought Elvira was Satanic, there was Joe Coors, what can we say about him? He divorced his wife of fifty years and married his mistress? Quit Coors to make wine? And now that you know all that, you have another reason not to drink the beer besides the taste.

I enjoy blogging about history but when I heard this story, it always made me look at the Cavalier Hotel differently. And now, they reopen soon to continue making history.

Isn’t life about routine. It was real easy to go a couple of days without blogging. Almost a routine. But I know that I have to get back to my daily blogging. And then, I realized it was so cold. So cold.

Right?

Today’s blog comes from History.com because it humors me. It also makes me wonder about Christopher Columbus’ eyesight. Perhaps he did not want to return to Spain after his trips, and be sentenced to the pit of misery…so he felt pressure to find!

In 1493, while sailing near the Dominican Republic, Columbus notes a curious observation. Maybe we should consider his diary entry, in the context of the knowledge that he had been at sea for six months.

According to his entry, on the sea that day he “sees three ‘mermaids‘”. He describes them as “not half as beautiful as they are painted“. In reality, he was looking at manatees. Some manatees can grow to be 10-to-12 feet long and weigh between 800-1200 pounds.How about that? I think he got confused with sea and see!

One final note about Columbus. There were no known portraits painted of Columbus while he was alive. So history relies on the memories of painters in their portraits of Columbus.

An angry painter could have really impacted history by painting a portrait of Columbus with a hamburger. Then we would have thought that he always traveled with a hamburger. And that’s how history can become history!

And for pic o’ day; nowadays, it’s difficult to know whether you are looking at a “real” picture. Here’s an example of a cow that was photo-shopped on to a car. Because otherwise, why wouldn’t a cow be relaxing on a car hood? I wonder what Columbus would see?

There are two words in the English language that are spelled with all the vowels in order: abstemious and facetious. To this day, I am still trying to figure out why “and sometimes y“ was part of my education. Poory!

John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, had a habit of eating beef between two slices of toast, so he could eat without interruption of his card game. Hence… he is credited with “inventing” or naming the sandwich. Is that an example of necessity is the mother of invention?

It is reported that during the years that she was the First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy smoked 3 packs of cigarettes a day. Which causes me to post this advertisement for cigarettes from the early 1960’s. You wouldn’t expect an NBA player today to be a spokesman, would you?

These three random items all serve as a prelude to a tragic sequence of events that has now led to a lawsuit. An Idaho man was found dead, after regularly consuming at least four energy drinks a day. (IdahoStatesman.com) His family has now filed suit against the manufacturers of Red Bull, NOS and Monster beverages.

The lawsuit alleges that the 25-year-old man was unaware of the risks associated with these drinks. It goes on to state that the manufacturers should also warn consumers not to use their products with alcohol or while exercising. The family also believes that the manufacturers should also warn that four 16 ounce drinks per day are too many. I have attached the article, because I am interested as to whether you think that the manufacturers are at fault.

I started out this blog by reciting the invention of a sandwich, because these caffeine drinks are basically a way that people, including students and truck drivers, are trying to stay awake and alert. Remember, Necessity is the mother of invention. Should they believe that it could have impact on their health? Which is also why I threw in that last fact about Jackie Kennedy. Maybe in those days, they really believed that cigarettes were a way to relax. But three packs?

Why did I originally mention the two words and my fascination with vowel placement? Really nothing related to the blog, but it does prepare you for some holiday Trivial Pursuit!

And for pic o’ day, here is another of my “ole faithful” holiday pictures. A curious Nativity scene for sure!

I want to start Our blog by posting a family picture. At the same, this is also a thank you to all our Veterans from Saturday’s Veterans Day. A picture that my parents forwarded to me. It’s my grandfather during World War II.

He is here speaking to the troops in Belgium, as a military chaplain. Most were bomber pilots about to fly into Germany. One of many reasons that I am proud of him!

And now some war history. It’s the story of Humpty Dumpty. You know the rhyme:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.All the king’s horses and all the king’s menCouldn’t put Humpty together again

No where in that rhyme does it say that he is an egg. But this is what he looks like to us. Right?

Humpty Dumpty did not start out as a nursery rhyme. The first theory of “his” origin relates to the English Civil War in 1648 when the town of Colchester was under attack.

As the story goes, a man named Jack Thompson was stationed on the walls of the church of the Tower of Saint Mary. He was firing a cannon nicknamed “Humpty Dumpty.” Thompson and his one-eyed war machine managed to do a lot of damage to the advancing Parliamentarian troops.

Then… the cannon tumbled to the ground. Because of the size and weight of the cannon, the King’s calvary (horses) and the infantry (men) couldn’t put Humpty back together again. They were soon overrun by the Parliamentarians, led by Thomas Fairfax and his soldiers.

There is another theory that King Richard III, known as the “Humpbacked King”, was also nicknamed Humpty Dumpty. History really tells us that he actually suffered from scoliosis, which made his right shoulder higher than the left. So I don’t believe that story. Plus a cannon on a wall is much more exciting!

Recently, I have seen messages on Facebook that are being passed around by Trump supporters, that basically say that never before has a President been so attacked by people and the liberal media. Then, they issue their “unbiased” request to “leave him alone and give him a chance“.

This isn’t a blog about whether to agree or disagree with how our President is being treated. Instead, I thought that a look back to Lincoln and the coverage of his Gettysburg Address speech might give you a smile.

First, just like many witnesses in car crashes, there was a difference of opinion about that day of November 19, 1863. Some memories in history:

One spectator noted that the weather was “bright and clear.” The Washington Chronicle reported rain showers.

Crowd estimates hearing the speech have ranged from 15,000 people crowding the town for the event. Others have recounted that there were over 100,000 people there.

Some went to their deaths insisting that Lincoln took a tour of the battlefield in the early morning hours on dedication day. Others swore that he stayed inside the Wills House until it was time to mount up for the procession to the ceremony (source)

Next is how the speech was reviewed by newspapers:

The Chicago Times reviewed the speech ,”The cheek of every American must tinge with shame as he reads the silly flat and dishwatery utterances of the man who has to be pointed out to intelligent foreigners as the President of the United States”. This was the same newspaper that had described Lincoln by asking, “Is Lincoln less refined than a savage?”.

On November 23, 1863, they continued their assault on Lincoln and his speech with descriptions of “ignorant rudeness,” “boorishness” and “vulgarity“, because they claimed that he included “political partisanship”..

The Harrisburg, Pennsylvania newspaper known as The Patriot and Union, reviewed the speech and the President by saying that he, “acted without sense and without constraint in a panorama that was gotten up more for the benefit of his party than for the glory of the nation and the honor of the dead.” How about that meanness? 150 years later, they retracted their bad review of Lincoln’s speech. (Here at Time.com)

The London Times described the ceremony as “rendered ludicrous by some of the luckless sallies of that poor President Lincoln”. They were already known as a regular critic of Lincoln and his Presidency.

I could keep inserting more critical reviews of the speech, but I will end with one from his hometown paper. On November 24, 1863, The Illinois State Register gave this scathing review, “Nothing could have been more inappropriate than to have invited the prince of jokers, Old Abe, to be present at the consecration of the Gettysburg Cemetery,” the Register wrote on Nov. 24, 1863.

“But having been invited, it was hoped by his apologists that he would at least refrain from his clownish jokes about standing over the new-made graves of thousands who had been slain in the recent battle“.

History records that Lincoln faced harsh criticism. And the worst was yet to come.

So when I see people angered by the way that Trump is being criticized today, it fits in with seeing through personal opinion. That’s expected. I don’t understand why they think that Trump is facing a liberal media like never before.

One thing for certain, it didn’t impact Lincoln’s Sense of humor. He had some great quotes. “If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?”. And he described tact as “the ability to describe others as they see themselves”. And finally, “If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.”

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